Edits to Lily Quinn
We’ve gotten feedback from most of our Lily Quinn beta readers.��I can’t believe how quickly you guys got back to us! Within days, we had seconds reads and pages of notes, including copy edits, readers reactions and major scene suggestions.
For the most part, reactions were great! Very positive. Our beta readers seemed to enjoy the story and the sex. I admit to having become rather fond of the setting, so I was pleased to see that others seemed to like it, as well.
There was one major scene edit that everyone agreed on. Not even an edit ��� it’s going to require a pretty heavy rewrite. I’ve done major rewrites before, but this is Aron’s first time. It’s always kind of a kick in the stomach when you learn you’re not as done with a manuscript as you thought. I had to throw away 100 pages of the first draft of In the House of Five Dragons. It broke my heart and it was probably a solid month before I��could make myself go back to the book.
I’ve got a few years more practice than Aron, but it’s not much easier, even now. What we send out to beta readers is more or less the best we can make of the first draft. Of course, that’s the whole��point of beta readers ��� to get input and thoughts we never could have come up with alone. But somewhere, in that silly, dark inner sanctum of ego, most writers sort of hope that no one will have any critiques. That the book will already be perfect. That never happens, of course. Not to any of the authors I know, at least.
Big-ass edits are great for the book. They��always are. Whenever we finish with a big round of work on a manuscript, we’re always ten times happier with it than when we started out. But until it’s done, the changes feel��ridiculously daunting.
Our editors and beta readers are an absolutely vital part of the process and they did an amazing job. Seriously��� I think you guys had more feedback on 21,000 words of Lily Quinn than 85,000 words of Whisperworld. I guess you like reading about sex.��Not that I can blame you. It was a lot of fun to write about.
